When he first arrived at USC final January, Bryan Jackson was nonetheless a couple of months in need of his 18th birthday. The intense-eyed freshman working again had graduated from highschool early, within the hope that he’d hit the bottom working at USC. And instantly it was clear how shortly that floor was shifting beneath his ft.
However Jackson, a 230-pound energy again, resolved to not let the velocity of all of it swallow him up. He watched intently as Woody Marks, the Trojans’ workhorse and Jackson’s roommate on the street, labored his method by way of a stellar season. He took be aware of Marks’ each transfer, how he arrived early and stayed late, how he took care of his physique, how he watched movie, submitting all of it away for when his second lastly got here.
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It might need appeared then as if Jackson would have some time to attend, what with Marks main the way in which and standout sophomore Quinten Joyner ready within the wings. However Marks opted out of the bowl recreation, and Joyner entered the switch portal, and out of the blue, the keys to USC’s backfield for Friday’s Las Vegas Bowl in opposition to Texas A&M have been within the fingers of one of many youngest gamers on USC’s roster, a freshman with barely 20 carries to his title.
“It’s an opportunity for me,” Jackson mentioned lately, “one of the biggest of my life.”
Related circumstances are taking part in out throughout faculty soccer this month, with the switch portal ravaging rosters and potential NFL prospects opting out of bowls en masse. At USC, 19 gamers have already entered the switch portal, whereas three extra — Marks, heart Jonah Monheim and cornerback Jaylin Smith — selected to skip the bowl recreation in lieu of making ready for the draft.
That’s left loads of alternatives up for grabs over the past month, up and down USC’s lineup. Along with a model new backfield, USC will roll with two new offensive linemen — Kilian O’Connor at heart and Tobias Raymond at proper deal with — and be with out three of its prime 5 receivers from this season. On either side of the ball, younger gamers are anticipated to play main roles Friday as USC seems to be forward to subsequent season.
“There’s a part of this that feels like the last game of this year and in some ways feels like the first game of next year,” USC coach Lincoln Riley mentioned.
USC coach Lincoln Riley chats with quarterback Jayden Maiava throughout a win over Nebraska on Nov. 16 on the Coliseum.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, however, mentioned he has already principally put the Aggies’ season behind them. With three starters out alongside the Aggies’ defensive entrance, Elko mentioned Friday that his employees had approached the bowl extra like “an opener” than the ultimate stamp on their season. He expects that USC, too, will look far totally different than it did only a few weeks in the past.
“You’re playing with guys in new spots, new faces,” Riley mentioned. “Even the preparation for it is a little bit different because you don’t have your full roster. But you’ve got to adapt. I think going through what we did last year helped us. I think we’re less surprised by what happened and understood how to plan from the beginning.”
Depth was truly much more dire final December, when USC had simply 53 gamers energetic for the Vacation Bowl. Nonetheless, USC rode a military of reserves and a six-touchdown exhibiting from backup quarterback Miller Moss to a rollicking win that gave the Trojans a wave of momentum heading into the offseason.
That momentum didn’t imply a lot by the point USC’s first Massive Ten slate was in full swing, as Moss was benched and the Trojans stumbled to a 6-6 end. But it surely was out of final bowl season that a number of constructing blocks for future USC groups first emerged. Amongst them beginning left deal with Elijah Paige and standout receiver Ja’Kobi Lane, who burst onto the scene with two touchdowns within the Vacation Bowl.
These alternatives, Riley reiterated Thursday, could be extremely useful.
“It’s a chance to showcase the program, it’s a chance for young guys to play,” Riley mentioned. “It’s another opportunity, and we just don’t get that many in this game.”
It may show particularly consequential, as soon as once more, to USC’s plans on the quarterback place. Riley has but to usher in one other passer within the switch portal and mentioned earlier this month that any new quarterback added would serve solely as “depth” behind Jayden Maiava. However Maiava was introduced in final January below related circumstances, solely to displace Moss because the starter by November.
He may have one other quarterback to take care of quickly sufficient in five-star freshman Husan Longstreet, who joined the group this month for practices and was part of the bowl festivities in Las Vegas. The circumstances have been already uncommon sufficient for Maiava this week, as USC practiced on the campus of Nevada Las Vegas, the varsity he left to affix USC.
“He never expected anything other than for us to coach him hard and develop him,” Riley mentioned of his quarterback, “and he was ready when his opportunity came.”
That’s the angle Jackson has tried to hold into bowl season, making ready as if this have been his second to grab management of USC’s backfield for 2025. He’ll share carries with one other younger again, A’Marion Peterson, on Friday, earlier than quickly sufficient one other ball service —New Mexico’s Eli Sanders — joins the combination. The outlook for USC’s dashing assault might solely get muddier from there.
Riley referred to as it “a tremendous opportunity for [Jackson and Peterson] to show that they can do the things that great backs in our offense have to do.”
It’s been some time since Riley has run with a real energy again like Jackson, however the freshman has spent the bowl season making an attempt to persuade the coach that he’s prepared, with loads of cuts and bruises to show it.
“It’s been a grind, man,” Jackson mentioned with a smile.
However alternatives like this, he is aware of, don’t come alongside typically.
“They gave me a chance to be the guy,” Jackson mentioned, “so I’m giving it everything I have.”
